John Cleater

United States

John Cleater’s work blurs the threshold between physical and virtual space, from speculative architecture to multi-media performance productions and Augmented Reality installations. He experiments with spatial experiences, most recently working with Augmented Reality using mobile devices as lenses through which one views and interacts with virtual objects in real space via GPS and camera recognition technologies. He holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Columbia University in New York City

Consequences

The Augmented Reality artwork Consequences uses the smart phone or tablet as a threshold through which one can migrate from the real world into an augmented world where consequences of the past, present and future of the Stavanger harbor emerge. Consequences reflects the current state of the human experience: as we spend more and more time looking into our handheld screens for answers rather than looking at and listening to the physical world around us as we move through our respective environments, we transmigrate towards a digital self. This AR experience uses virtual particles to blur the physical world of the Stavanger harbor with virtual mist, water geysers, oil slicks and extreme weather conditions.

Consequences can be viewed from inside the Stavanger concert hall lobby by looking through a pair of goggles – a “ThingOscope” – designed by the artist. TheAR can also be viewed from 2 other locations along the harbor front/Vågen, as well as from aboard the Tao Ferry. Download the Consequences app from the Google Play or Apple App store. When looking through your device toward the harbor, you will observe phenomena occurring across the horizon and all around you.

Commissioned by Screen City Biennial.

Download the Consequences app for experiencing the work. Free on Google Play or Apple App store.

Begin the Audio Walk from MS Sandnes.

Image: John Cleater, Consequences (2017), AR screen capture from an early sketch. Site-specific Augmented Reality, with sounds by Bobby Previte. Commissioned by Screen City Biennial. Courtesy of the artist.